As one of hip hop’s foremost elder statesmen, JAY-Z reserves the right to diss anyone he wants to. And on his new album 4:44, he takes full advantage of his rap seniority, delivering blink-and-you’ll-miss-it wordplay that punishes targets from Kanye and Future to Cosby and Bill Maher.
Below, revisit the long list of targets Jay slanders on 4:44.
JAY-Z: Before we get to any of Jay’s other targets, let’s be clear about the person he spends the most time beating up on the album — himself. 4:44 is full of self-owns, showing the rapper kicking himself about his infamous elevator fight with Solange in the elevator on Kill Jay Z: “You egged Solange on, knowin’ all along, all you had to say you was wrong.”
Kanye West: Before he turns on himself, Jay tears into Kanye West, his once-frequent collaborator before their friendship soured. Minutes into the album, on 4:44’s very first track, Kill Jay Z, he alludes to allegedly giving Kanye $20 million to stay with TIDAL, only to see the younger rapper slander him onstage during his Saint Pablo tour days before his hospitalization.
“But you ain’t a Saint, this ain’t KumbaYe, but you got hurt because you did cool by Ye / You gave him 20 million without blinking, he gave you 20 minutes on stage, (expletive) was he thinking / ‘(Expletive) wrong with everybody?’ is what you saying, but if everybody’s crazy, you’re the one that’s insane.”
Future: Many listeners interpreted this lyric on Kill Jay Z as a reference to his fellow rapper: “I don’t even know what you woulda done, In the future other (expletive) playin’ football with your son.”
Future went through a messy split with his ex Ciara, who later married Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson. The exes made headlines with their spats over their son, whose dad allegedly didn’t like spending time with Wilson. In this lyric, Jay seems to use Future’s situation as a warning to himself to treat his family better, though he appears to slander his I Got the Keys collaborator.
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